One day, several years back, I just about ran outside to check the sky for fire falling from heaven. I had learned the recent statistics for the aborting of unborn children in America - over one million in just one year - and I was sure that our continued existence as a nation could not be long.
What would happen to us for such a horrendous crime against our Maker? Would bombs drop and wipe us off the face of the earth? Would civil war break out and decimate our population? (For the crime of human trafficking and enslavement, this second had happened over one hundred years ago.)
I knew that many righteous people also live here, and that like us, many prayed and received mercy, even amid the violence. God had been incredibly gracious to us. The days went on - the sun rose, the store had groceries, the hospital had medicine, the roads had cars, while schools taught that God did not exist to be worshiped, and mothers sacrificed their babies to the idol of Self.
But the wrath of God is still being revealed from Heaven against the unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth plainly revealed to them in His creation. Romans chapter one teaches that this wrath is expressed, not so much in lightning bolts and earthquakes, as in God intentionally giving people over to a debased mind.
While the machinery of prosperity continues to run somewhat smoothly in our land, it is also slowly being undermined by a growing number of people who hate humanity, wholeness, and prosperity and promote perversion, death, and destruction. The judgment is right here among us. This seemingly unbelievable preference among the population for choices that lead to a destruction of prosperity and a deification of decay is no coincidence. It is part of the judgment itself. A nation that is led by people bent on its destruction does not need fire from heaven to destroy it. It will breed its own decay, and illustrate once again to the world that God alone is life and light, and those who turn from him to their own devices will have their fill of them.
But this is sad. This is not a story from history, but the nation in which we live, the backyards where we've grown too many tomatoes and zucchini, the front yards where we've found yard sale bargains, the sidewalks where we've watched sunsets and chatted with neighbors, the stores where we've bought Christmas presents, and the churches where we've sung Easter hymns. We know as Christians that we belong to Heaven, but paying higher taxes, being despised, and watching crime creep into our neighborhoods is still hard.
At this moment, we have to step back and see the stage on which we are set - the deepening blackness against which the gem of the gospel is beginning to shine again with its old brilliance. Right before the Romans 1:18 text about the wrath of God being revealed from heaven, is the Romans 1:16-17 text - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is it the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes...". In case we were starting to think that the American dream was too desirable, and spreading the gospel of the kingdom was something for other people who were more into being radically spiritual, the growing darkness might cause us to remember why we are here. It's starting to do that for me.
When we see that the rising generation is growing increasingly fascinated with sexual perversion, political tyranny, and spiritual darknesss - we have something for that - it's the gospel. The news that God has been incarnated in the Son to work righteousness, pay for sin and conquer death on behalf of all who believe, is news that is ever fresh and powerful.
To say that the gospel is the only true solution to human sin and spiritual darkness does not mean we turn a cold heart to the nation's institutions, however corrupt they may be. For those who are serving in the government and politics, as faithful Christians seeking to staunch the ever-gaping wound - their work is an act of compassion, just as a doctor treats the gangrene brought on by a patient's own bad choices. Mercy is still flowing to God's people, and it should flow through us to those around us, including those in government. To speak truth, to love justice, to act wisely is an honor being taken away from many, but where we can do these things, we are ministers of mercy, even as we are increasingly hated for doing so. Jesus told us about that, too.
So we are here, in this place, at this time, from Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ. That beautiful home, car, and garden in a safe, wholesome neighborhood is a blessing from Him, that He can also take away, but He has promised that no one can take us out of His hand.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20
